First 'Breathing Lung' Transplant in United States

New Post Public Reply Private Reply Replies (1) Message Board

Nov 26, 2012 at 3:37 PM

First 'Breathing Lung' Transplant in United States
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/...130928.htm

ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2012) — First there was the "heart in a box," a revolutionary experimental technology that allows donor hearts to be delivered to transplant recipients warm and beating rather than frozen in an ice cooler.

Now that same technology is being used to deliver "breathing lungs."

The lung transplant team at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical successfully performed the nation's first "breathing lung" transplant in mid-November. The patient, a 57-year-old who suffered from pulmonary fibrosis -- a disease in which the air sacs of the lungs are gradually replaced by scar tissue -- received two new lungs and is recuperating from the seven-hour surgery.

The groundbreaking transplant involved an experimental organ-preservation device known as the Organ Care System (OCS), which keeps donor lungs functioning and "breathing" in a near-physiologic state outside the body during transport. The current standard involves transporting donor lungs in a non-functioning, non-breathing state inside an icebox.

With the OCS, the lungs are removed from a donor's body and are placed in a high-tech OCS box, where they are immediately revived to a warm, breathing state and perfused with oxygen and a special solution supplemented with packed red-blood cells. The device also features monitors that display how the lungs are functioning during transport.

"Organs were never meant to be frozen on ice," said Dr. Abbas Ardehali, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery and director of the heart and lung transplantation program at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. "Lungs are very sensitive and can easily be damaged during the donation process. The cold storage method does not allow for reconditioning of the lungs before transplantation, but this promising 'breathing lung' technology enables us to potentially improve the function of the donor lungs before they are placed in the recipient."

UCLA is currently leading the U.S. arm of the international, multicenter phase 2 clinical INSPIRE study of the OCS, developed by medical device company TransMedics; Ardehali is the principal investigator for UCLA. The purpose of the trial is to compare donor lungs transported using the OCS technology with the standard icebox method. The INSPIRE trial is also underway at lung transplant centers in Europe, Australia and Canada and will enroll a total of 264 randomized patients.

According to Ardehali, in addition to potentially improving donor-lung function, the technology could help transplant teams better assess donor lungs, since the organs can be tested in the device, over a longer period of time.

In addition, it could help expand the donor pool by allowing donor lungs to be safely transported across longer distances.

"For patients with end-stage lung disease, lung transplantation can dramatically improve the patient's symptoms and offer relief from severe shortness of breath," said Dr. David Ross, professor of medicine and medical director of UCLA's lung and heart-lung transplantation program and UCLA's pulmonary arterial hypertension and thromboendarterectomy program. "The 'breathing lung' technology could potentially make the transplantation process even better and improve the outcomes for patients suffering from lung disease."

The "breathing lung" device follows on the heels of TransMedics' "heart in a box" technology, which delivers donor hearts in a similar manner. The multi-center national study of the heart technology, also led by UCLA, is ongoing.

Featured stocks: Coffee Shoppe
For conservative debate: "Keeping it Real"
Game Changing stock $SHMP

Newer

Older

Scroll down for more posts ▼

Top 10 Most Recent News Articles

CData Software: A Challenger in Data Integration

CData Software Earns Challenger Status Here we are, folks. CData Software just snagged the 'Challenger' title in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Data Integration Tools. For the uninitiated, that's a feather in the cap for these data wizards, proving they've got real skin in the game when it comes to connecting the data dots across enterprise landscapes. It’s...

Elite Academy Takes Bold Step in Ethical AI for Schools

Pioneering New Fronts in Education with AI Elite Academic Academy, a stalwart in California's public charter school landscape, has just taken a significant stride forward by stepping into the EDSAFE AI Alliance District Policy Lab. The move, announced in early November 2026, sees Elite diving into the intricate world of artificial intelligence in education, with a pointed...

ImmunoGenesis Showcases STING Agonist Progress at SITC

STING Agonists: The Next Frontier in Glioblastoma Treatment? Out there in the weeds of immunotherapy, ImmunoGenesis is gearing up for its moment at the SITC 2026 Annual Meeting with its STING agonist, IMGS-203. The stakes are skyscraper-high as this novel treatment makes a play against recurrent glioblastoma (GBM)—one tough cookie in the realm of brain cancers....

PropWallet: A Game Changer for Prop Firm Payouts?

Change is Brewing in Boca Raton Well, folks, looks like PropAccount.com is shaking up the payout game with their latest brainchild, PropWallet. Launched on November 4, 2026, in sunny Boca Raton, they're setting the stage for a new way to handle payouts at prop trading firms. It's more than just another payout method; it's a ploy for keeping traders hooked and firms...

Qfin Holdings Faces Class Action Over Stock Drop

Qfin Holdings' Troubled Waters Look, when a stock tanks by nearly 19% overnight, it isn't because of some fluke. And that's precisely what's got Qfin Holdings, Inc. investors gritting their teeth and lawyers sharpening their pencils. Deep Dive into Allegations For those keeping score, we're talking about serious allegations here: between March 18, 2026, and August 25,...

Aker Solutions Lands Big Role in Qatar Oil Upgrade

Qatari Venture Beckons Aker Solutions Well, it's not every day you hear about a decades-old oil field getting a facelift, and yet here we are. Aker Solutions has received a nod of approval with a letter of award from PTSC Mechanical and Construction Limited Company (PTSC M&C). This gig is all about the Maydan Mahzam oil field way off the Qatari coast—a legacy site...

VeriSilicon's GCNanoOptimaV Transforms Wearable Tech

Revving Up Wearables with Next-Gen Graphics Well, folks, VeriSilicon's at it again, rolling out some cutting-edge technology in the form of their spanking new GCNanoOptimaV GPU IP. If you're scratching your head wondering what this means for your wrist-bound gadgets, hang tight—I'm about to spell it out. Architectural Innovations: Striking the Balance Here's the scoop...

Lakefront Living: Steuben County's Twin Tales

Here’s how it is: choosing a lakefront home in Steuben County, Indiana, ain't just about picking a place with a killer view. It’s like buying a lifestyle package and you’d better know what you’re getting. An article by Tony Isa, the go-to real estate guru in these parts, puts the spotlight on Lake James and Clear Lake—but what matters is how each might wrangle...

American Bitcoin Sees 5% Hike in Satoshis Per Share

Digging Deeper into American Bitcoin's Latest Results Out of the blue, American Bitcoin Corp. (NASDAQ:ABTC) has dropped its third-quarter 2026 financial results, and guess what? It's looking like they've struck gold—or should I say, digital gold. The Miami-based operation is all about stacking those Bitcoins, weaving them into their business model like a knitter with a...

Young Storytellers Honored: Bridging Cultures Through Journalism

Leaders of Tomorrow: Campus News Awards 2026 It's no small feat to look at a room full of young journalists and see the future of how stories will be told. But that's exactly what happened at the Campus News Awards 2026 in Shenzhen. Here, kids from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia stood proudly with their certificates, ready to tackle the changing landscape of...